‘Vikings’ season 4, episode 11 review: Ragnar faces his sons, Ivar consumed in anger
It has been a long wait for new episodes of “Vikings”, but tonight the second half of season 4 is back and we know that they are planning to throw us right back into the thick of it all. There was a major time jump from the last episode in the spring and now all of Ragnar’s sons are young men. When we last saw Ragnar, he was returning home after being gone for many years (after his defeat from his battle with Rollo in Paris) and was facing his angry sons.
Who wants to be king? That was the question that Ragnar posed to his sons, but Bjorn had a question for him too – why did he come back? He tells his sons that he came back because he’s going to England and has asked his sons to come. They aren’t interested though, mostly because Bjorn has found a map to a new land and just like his father, his adventurous spirit wants to go there (he even has Floki building him boats). While Bjorn wants to go raiding in new lands, his other sons want to stay behind and protect their mother and their land. Ivar is the only one that doesn’t really understand why no one is standing by their father.
With Ragnar’s sons not really being that interested in raiding with him, he starts to feel like he’s not part of this world anymore. He heads to see Lagertha to see if she wants to come with him to England, and she isn’t says no, but the one thing that came out of this, that was a long time coming, was his regrets over what he did to her in their marriage. There was a beautiful kiss of pure love between them and as much as we want to see these two reunited, we know that they won’t be. After rejection from everyone he loves, tries to end his life, but even that doesn’t go as planned.
We had our first look at Ivar as a child where he smashed another kid’s head in with an ax, and now we have a look at Ivar as an adult… not much has changed. He is still angry at the world for not having the use of his legs and feeling entitled with his station in life. We have seen how vicious he can be, but tonight we saw his vulnerable side as well. When he could not perform in bed, his first instinct was to kill the woman so she wouldn’t tell anyone, but she is able to reach him when she tells him that having sex isn’t what makes him special, being Ragnar’s son makes him stand above the rest and that’s not an easy station to have in life – it’s a lot of pressure and he’s a man that can handle it.
The talk between Ragnar and Ivar was a talk that was a long time coming and the more we see them together, the more we see how just how much Ivar wants to be like his father. The exchange between them that leads to Ivar accepting his father’s invitation to raid with him in England made us smile, because for the first time we see that charm that Ragnar has inside of Ivar. Episode grade: A-
What did you think of the return of “Vikings” season 4? Leave us a comment below and tell us if you thought it was worth the long wait for new episodes. If you want more news on the show then head on over to the link here and let us be your guide. (Photo: History)